The Moveable Type Truck is coming to Gus & Ruby Letterpress!!

Guess what?! The Moveable Type Truck is coming to Gus & Ruby Letterpress!!! We, truly, couldn't be more excited to host this awesome event. The Type Truck is the brainchild of printer Kyle Durrie (designer and printer of Power + Light Press - one of our favorite lines of humorous greeting cards here in the store). Kyle converted an old Chevy van into a mobile letterpress print shop and has been traveling around the country the past few months bringing printing to the people. Inside the truck, Kyle gives visitors a first-hand look at letterpress printing. You'll have the chance to learn all about the craft, the machines and even try some printing yourself!


So many of you, our faithful, fabulous, funtastic fans have asked to come see our presses in action and, unfortunately, due to the set-up of our print shop, it's not been feasible for us. So, we are so excited that y'all can come by next week and visit the Type Truck to get a good looksee at exactly what we do (even if these aren't the actual G&R presses). Plus, Kyle is totally rad and her work is hilarious and awesome.

The truck will be parked in front of Gus & Ruby Letterpress:

Moveable Type Truck @
Gus & Ruby Letterpress
Thursday, October 6th
4pm-7pm
29 Congress Street
Portsmouth, NH

Also, the event is FREE to the public! So, people, mark your calendars and get ready to get your print on! For more info about Kyle, the truck and her traveling project, visit: http://type-truck.com/about/

See you next Thursday! Can't wait, won't wait!!

(all photos courtesy of the Type Truck)

Gabe & Christa's hand-drawn wedding invitations

Last week I shared Gabe and Christa's hand-drawn save the dates and I am so excited to reveal their beautiful invitations today! In our initial meeting, G&C had fallen in love with Elizabeth and David's invitation suite because they loved the illustration style and most of all, the gate fold format. They knew they wanted a drawing of Gabe's family home to be the center of the invitation suite so we had the amazingly talented Nate Duval illustrate the house and some structures from around the property including a funky old tree, an old pick-up truck that's always parked in the driveway, the stonewall that separates the lawn from the rocky, ocean coast and the gated driveway that leads to the expansive property. We combined Nate's illustration with my handwriting for all of the text and used the purple and chartreuse inks from the save the date. Here is a picture of the whole suite:  

After the twine was removed the gate fold (that featured the gated driveway) opens to reveal the invitation: 

A detailed shot of the handwriting:

A detailed shot of the gorgeous house:

My favorite piece was the reply card that featured a couple of Adirondack chairs and the extra big response options, YES and NO! 

Another shot of the invitation (left) and the gate fold (right) before it is opened:

An additional card gave guests the wedding website: 

And I just couldn't resist sharing a photo of the gorgeous couple, Gabe and Christa: 

Pretty cute right? To see more pics of this AMAZing wedding, including some shots of the beautiful work our very own Lizzy did, click here. It was SO much fun working with these two and I am so sad that it's over. They are spending the next year traveling the world (literally a year-long honeymoon) and we hope they have an amazing trip and first year of marriage! 


Beautiful photos courtesy of emilie inc. photography.

The early elf gets the mistletoe!!

(holiday translation: order custom holiday cards early and SAVE!)

(photo above courtesy of Smock)

I know it's only September and just days into the Fall season, but, trust me folks, you don't want to miss these fabulous custom holiday card early-bird specials. For reals. How awesome will it feel to save some $$ and check this off your holiday to-do list? Real awesome.

As you all know, we strive to fill our little shop with the best of the best in the stationery and gift world. And, custom work is an area of particular passion for us. We just love creating the perfect note card, invitation or card for our clients and holiday cards are among our very favorite projects to work on. What's more joyful than receiving personal holiday cards full of cheery messages, darling photos and wishes for the season and year ahead?

This year - we have a few albums of the most lovely holiday card designs to choose from and, as always, you can customize to your heart's content to make one absolutely perfect for you and your elves. From whimsical patterns to traditional elegance to contemporary chic, there really is something for everyone. And best of all, if you order early - there are some pretty sweet deals to be had!

Check out the awesome deals and just a few designs to get your creative juices flowing:

Wiley Valentine

Order 75 or more holiday cards by Oct. 31st and receive 25 FREE!

(photos above courtesy of Wiley Valentine)

Smock

Order your letterpress holiday cards or holiday invitations by December 1st and receive FREE return-address printing on your envelopes (you just pay for the blank envelopes and Smock will do the rest!)

(photos above courtesy of Smock)

The Happy Envelope

Order 50 or more holiday cards by October 31st and receive 10% off the entire order!

(photos above courtesy of The Happy Envelope)

Spark Letterpress

Place your holiday order by October 31 and receive 15% off the entire order!

Place your holiday order between November 1 and November 30 and receive 10% off the entire order!

(photos above courtesy of Spark)

Between the 4 holiday albums and the option for truly custom design & letterpress printing by Gus & Ruby, there is no limit to what we can create for you and yours. Photo cards with a twist? You got it! Letterpress holiday soiree invitations? Of course! Elegant corporate cards? Not a problem.

So, spread some extra cheer this holiday (and save a little $ in your wallet) and pop on in to order custom holiday cards! We ho-ho-hope to see you soon.

xoxo,

The Stationery Elves

Freeze.

Freeze.

Nobody Move (that includes you Gus, I see you eyeballin' my popcorn)

I've got something to say...

New Greeting Cards in from Oddball Press, Zeichen Press & Sycamore Street Press!!

Come on in and check 'em out on this rainy Monday, they'll give you a good chuckle and brighten your day...

I GUAR-AN-TEE it!

More to come on Friday peeps - new shipments to the shop are PLENTIFUL these days!

xo Lizzy

Pink Pint Night

One of the things that we love about Portsmouth (one of the many things!) is how active members of this community are in charitable causes and how often we find ourselves attending or, better yet, participating in all sorts of cool events and fundraisers for those causes.

We couldn't be more excited to be participating in one such event - Pink Pint Night - next Tuesday, September 27th. Pink Pink Night is a genius, multi-faceted shopping and dining event that brings together women, local vendors, fabulous food and craft beer all to support a chosen charity. This year, a portion of all proceeds from the event will go to Jaden's Ladder. Jaden's Ladder is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting survivors of domestic violence.

The night promises to be a blast filled with incredible food, delicious beers to sample and lots and lots of shopping!! In addition to the Gus & Ruby team, there are gong to be some seriously fabulous vendors to visit including these Gus & Ruby favorites:

Joya Beauty

Wild Orchid Baking Company

Jardiniere

Sperry Tents

Chrisrial & Co.

Stilletto Shoes

Bella Intimates

Making Faces

Linda Taylor

Delia's

So - how could you pass up a night of fabulous shopping, girl-time and delicious food and beer that all support such a worthy cause? It's win-win and you can buy your tickets HERE. Hope to see you there!

Gabe & Christa's hand-drawn save the dates

Gabe & Christa came to us last fall to discuss custom save the dates and invitations for their August 2011 nuptials at Gabe's family home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. These 2 make the most adorable couple and we were immediately head over heels with them and their idea for having custom illustrations of the house and its surroundings be the center of their invitation suite! Nate Duval drew this awesome tree that sits on the lawn outside of their house and I wrote out all of the save the date info by hand. We letterpress printed the piece in a bright, chartreuse green and purple and adhered it to a matching purple card stock. The custom liner featured a pattern made up of leaves. 

Check back next week as I will be posting pictures of the fabulous invitations and a few of our favorites of the happy couple from their wedding! 

All photos by Brea McDonald Photography.

Calendar Round-Up... 2012

Hey there guys and gals. The crisp Fall air hit Portsmouth this morning, and boy oh boy am I thrilled about it. Got to pull out my leather boots and scarves. And tights! I just couldn't be happier. The Fall brings all sorts of loveliness to New England, and to coastal New Hampshire. We hope to still see you all out and about, visiting our beautiful town (and maybe having to bundle up a bit due to that fabulous coastal breeze!).

This past week has been crazy at the shop (you'd think that things would tone down for a minute now that beach season is sort of out... but not so much here at G&R!!) We're starting to get holiday goodies in and will have a display out for custom holiday cards next week :) But before we put the cart too far ahead of the horse, I want to talk a bit about 2012 calendars. I know that I have been a-chattering about a few of my favorites, but now that almost all of our calendars for 2012 have arrived in store, I can't help but want to share! So here it is, a little calendar round-up for your viewing and organizing pleasure.

Last year everyone was looking for calendars with boxes - so this year we are carrying two wall calendars that offer that layout. The newbie is from Fine Day Press. It's watercolor designs are whimsical and bright, and what I love most about this calendar is how beautifully composed it is. It really reads like a piece of artwork on your wall, and just happens to double as a handy dandy calendar too!

As with many of our calendars, the talented folks at Fine Day built this calendar so that you can clip the calendar grid off at the end of every month and use the watercolor designs as prints. Gift them away or hang them in your home - but regardless of what you decide to do with them, we think you'll really love this calendar and get lots of use out of it!

Our other grid-style calendar hails from our upstairs neighbors at BG 2770 Designs. This calendar is always one of my favorites in the group because of it's saturated colors and organic design. My mother used to doodle swirls and shapes all over large sheets of paper for me to color in with my 24 pack of Crayolas when I was a kid - and while my work at that age probably looked like child's play compared to these lovely calendars, I still get that nostalgic feeling every time I see them!

We of course had to bring back the Paper Source calendars this year, as they were a customer fave in 2011! As many of you may recall, this wall calendar has patterns on the back of each page that you can cut out after the month is over and turn into file folders and pillow gift boxes - SO CLEVER! - and a great holiday gift for those of you who like to get your shopping done early!

For 2012 Waste Not also designed an awesome desktop letterpress calendar for Paper Source that I can't get enough of! It's the perfect pop of color and design for any workspace!

Snow & Graham's wall and desk calendar were each a huge hit for us last year as well. See their 2012 designs below...

Love those rainbow raindrops - don't you?!

You've seen our two lovely calendars from Rifle Paper Company, but I'll share them again. Because they deserve it. And so do you :)

This full page print is one of my favorites for sure. Each design by Rifle is hand-painted, and then printed right in house. Imagine this beaut hanging on the wall in your kitchen - by the phone so you can reference it, but framed because it really is a piece of art!

And I swoon over the soft pastel palette of the Botanicals 2012 calendar by Rifle. It demonstrates the traditional number grid on each page, but is really kicked up a notch by each unique, seasonal floral design. This is another calendar that could easily be cut apart and used as decorative prints after the year is over!

The last two calendars I'll share today are great gifts for the men in your lives.

Now don't get me wrong, they'd be great gifts for men AND women, but I think they have a particularly masculine feel that can be difficult to find in artisan printed and designed calendars! (Sorry to be a bit sexist here, but we have such a hard time finding great grabs for men, and so I feel like I have to announce to the world that we've cracked the code calendar-wise this year! :)

You've seen our super cute doggy desk calendar from The Found which has 12 unique pup-tastic illustrations, one for each month:

But then there's this newbie. This super awesome calendar could duo as a desktop or wall calendar, letterpress printed by Old School Stationers. I love the organic color palette and the fact that all of the designs are sort of natural and "Big Fish" inspired :)

Love the root veg page for September and that stark black crow on the October page!

So there it is - for now at least :) Some of our most lovely ways to keep you and yours organized and up-to-date in 2012! Pop by the shop soon so you can pick from our best selection, and let's talk soon about the other beautiful calendars the we have coming!

K?

Great!!

Lots of love and some big Fall-time wooly sock hugs from us here at G&R

<3

Lizzy